Chicken Rice: Deconstructed

This session of the North West Sustainability Forum is not your usual culinary lesson on Chicken Rice. Speaker, Ms Catherine Loke, Founding President of The Circle for Human Sustainability, brought us on a journey where she deconstructed our favourite national dish, and traced its energy trail to find out how the process of preparing a simple plate of chicken rice can leave a high environment footprint.

Here are the key takeaways:

Is Permaculture the Answer?

What is Permaculture?

A sustainable ecosystem design that works with nature to create self-sustaining food sources.

What does this have to do with chickens?

With permaculture chickens, we build a natural habitat for chickens that meets their needs while acting as a food source for humans.

• Chickens and plants live together, eliminating the need for “feed” for chickens, fertilizer for plants, and pesticides.
• No electricity, ventilation systems or irrigation required
• Chickens scratch and forage with their own litter and decomposed litter can be used for plants

What are the benefits of permaculture?

• Composting reduces methane emissions
• Healthy soil sequesters carbon, absorbs moisture and filters water
• No use of chemicals, pesticides or fertilizers
• Reduces demand for energy and resources in processing, transportation, packaging and refrigeration

Our Team

Adviser: Mayor Alex Yam

Editorial Team: Michael Lau, Sim Chuan San, Steve Luo, Eric Liu, Melvin Tai, Charlene Koh

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Some articles in Cohesion are contributed by volunteers and are not necessarily opinions/comments by North West CDC.

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